Abstract:

In many contexts, globalization is an incentive for parents and their children to learn or maintain an additional language either for cultural engagement or for work purposes; the importance of learning languages is accepted in most societies and policies worldwide for economic, cultural and cognitive reasons. As Genesee (2008: 22-23) established the reasons for the increased regularity and demand for bi- and multilingualism include:
1) growing globalization of business and commerce;
2) voluntary movement of people from country to country for economical, educational, political and personal reasons;
3) the revolution in telecommunications that has created a need for proficiency in multiple languages.

Although English has become a lingua franca for commercial exchange and in cyberspace, there is growing evidence from research findings that individuals who know English and other languages will have advantages in all areas, economic, cultural and cognitive, over those who know English only.

In addition to what is going on in North America, the Council of Europe has been facing during decades the challenge of overcoming barriers within the Union itself and, under the feeling of the attention to the richness of its rich heritage of linguistic and cultural diversity. Powerful lines of research in applied linguistics focus on an orientation towards social use of the languages learned, as effective communication between people (Vez, 2011).

Canada has the most renowned bilingual programs in the world such as French immersion but we start to see more bilingual programs especially in Alberta (Western Canada) where Spanish, Mandarin and German bilingual programs emerged over recent years.

Spain has also a program called CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) which is also well known in the world and especially in Europe and other countries (Australia, between others), where a target language is taught through content. For example, students will learn English or French in Spain while studying one subject such as math in that language.

In this presentation, we want to discuss differences and similarities of bilingual education pedagogy in these two countries. From our experiences and data from interviews with teachers from both countries, we will demonstrate that language pedagogy is similar in the classrooms but comprise also of differences associated to particular contexts.

References:
[1] Genesee, F. (2008). Dual Language in the Global Village. In T.W. Fortune & D.J. Tedick (eds), Pathways to Multilingualism. Evolving Perspectives on Immersion Education. (pp. 22-48). Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters LDT. Grosjean, F. (2008). Studying Bilinguals. Oxford: OUP Oxford.
[2] Vez, J. M. (2010). Didáctica de las Lenguas Extranjeras. Paradigmas de investigación. Linguarum Arena. Vol. 1 , nº 1 . (pp. 81 – 102).

Keywords:

Bilingual education, pedagogy, Canada, Spain.